Obama's Nobel Is Premature, Historians and Political Scientists Say

The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama is an "embarrassment" to the process, a presidential historian told FOXNews.com.

President Obama said Friday he was "most surprised and deeply humbled" to win the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, adding that he accepts the honor as "a call to action to confront the common challenges of the 21st century."

In a brief statement in the White House Rose Garden on Friday, the president said he does not "view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments," but rather as a recognition of goals he has set for the United States and the world.

Only two other sitting presidents, Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 and Woodrow Wilson in 1919, have been awarded the prestigious Peace Prize. Roosevelt was honored largely for brokering an agreement between Russia and China, and Wilson took the award for his role in ending World War I and creating the League of Nations.

It's far too early to compare Obama to either of his predecessors, said Allan Lichtman, professor of history at American University.